Here is our latest issue of the Observer. Happy Summer!
Click here to view the Observer file in pdf format.
Roland Bal, currently enrolled in the Mature Student program at Brockwood just launched an interactive health website filled with many valuable tips and information:
Roland is a trained Cranio-Sacral therapist but he has also done training in Visceral Manipulation and Somato Emotional Release. He recently said the following about launching website:
“Many pages there are related to health and can be used as reference material when needed. 
I am often asked for advice concerning health issues so instead of having to send or write down links for people I have put everything on one site. You can subscribe to the site if you’d like to be notified when I post something new on it (right corner). The information contained in these pages could potentially save your or your loved one’s life or help you move forward. It is important to make people aware of alternative possibilities that WORK. Feel free to share and comment or ask questions – it’s set up as an interactive site, so enjoy.”
The overarching expectations behind this class are quite philosophical. If you learn to learn in a way that you love, that will help facilitate finding out what you love, and if you discover what you love to do, then the rest will follow in a way that is empowering, innovative and socially responsive. That is why, as I understand it, discovering what you love to do in life is a core intention of Brockwood.
In being encouraged to be self-reflective learners, students engage with their learning in such an active way that they start to appreciate that “to know is not enough”, and that this is true in two interrelated ways. Indeed while the two are connected, students begin to be able to distinguish between the outer knowledge of the world and the inner knowledge of themselves. One of the points is for them to see that in both cases knowledge is constructed and must therefore be critiqued as such.
Continue reading ‘“to know is not enough” – Study Skills & Critical Thinking Class’
On Saturday, May 14th, 2011, 22 former students, staff, parents and others came together for the first official Brockwood reunion in Berlin. People travelled from as far as Oldenburg and Prague to be there. We met in a central place in Berlin and funnily a different kind of reunion was taking place at the same time with motorbike and old car riders. Just from the way people looked, it was quite easy to tell which reunion people were heading to!
By alphabetic order: Adrian Sydenham, Agnes Benoit, Andrés Nader, Anke Schmiedel, Charlotte He, Dagmar Albrecht, Daniel Celal Christoffel, Gregor Czimmek, James Griffin, Jan Janda, Jana Langguth, Jonathan Menz, Justine Hess, Kris Gorski, Lorena Wish, Ludger Fabian, Marc Schmiedel, Martin Janda, Moses Merkle, Natasza Smielowska, Pamela Ferchl.
Continue reading ‘Brockwood in Berlin: Alumni Got Together’
Former staff and student Javier Gómez Rodriguez visited the school last week and showed a presentation of his art collage work on Tuesday evening. Below is what he wrote a few months ago about what he calls “this simple artistic exercise” that he describes as “a way of mirroring the interface between the outward or social stream and one’s own inner sense of meaning”. Together with his writing you will find a few pictures of his work too.
In the Wake of Progress
Continue reading ‘Art Collage Evening’
Sixteen former and current students and staff of Brockwood came together in central New York City on Saturday April 2nd. Alumni came from all over the US, as far as California and as close as Manhattan. They wanted to reconnect with one thing they all shared: Brockwood people and their lives.
Back Row (from left to right): Arvind Pai (Rishi Valley alumnus and host), Jonathan Mitchell, Lauren Russell-Geskos, Eva Segou, Xana Vie, Sid Goyal, Joel Vall Thomas , Kara Taylor, Ajit Pai (Rishi Valley alumnus and host), George Matthews.
Front Two Rows (from left to right): Hugo Mahabir, Dana Jané, Veronique Rignault, Tyler Davis-Mayo, Olga Gonzalez, Carole Starkes, Leila Taylor, Bill Taylor.
Continue reading ‘Participating in Tomorrow’s Brockwood: A Memorable Alumni Event in New York City’
We are just about to launch into our busy summer term at Brockwood, which against the backdrop of a lush Hampshire spring is always the most eventful. This is also the time of year when we have to find new residential staff to fill vacancies for the forthcoming academic year.
All staff living at Brockwood share an interest in the intentions of the school, perform a number of duties and are considered to be ‘educators’ in the broadest sense of the word. This year we are looking for people with the following skills, or some combination of them: vegetarian cooking, housekeeping, maintenance and the teaching of Art, Ceramics, English, Physical Education, Psychology, and Woodwork.
If you would like further information or would like to make an application to work at Brockwood please contact us via: co-principals@brockwood.org.uk or call +44 (0) 1962 771 744. Please also share this message with friends or family whom you think might be interested.
Best wishes for an enjoyable summer.
By: Adrian Sydenham & Bill Taylor, Co-Principals
Every year we invite all parents to come to Brockwood for a whole weekend and participate in everything that we do and more. In the past few years the event has become more and more popular and this year it was the most attended one to date: indeed over 70 parents joined us for three days! If you think the dining hall tends to be a little crowded these days, just imagine it with seventy more bodies! That said we ended up being very lucky with the weather and many naturally chose to eat on the beautiful south lawn.
Continue reading ’2011 Brockwood Parents’ Weekend, March 25th-27th’
One of the highlights of the Autumn and Spring terms’ schedule is a school-wide Teachers’ Meeting, at which residential and on-residential teachers join forces to discuss topics of common interest. Feedback on classes, individual tussles and difficulties, questions and ideas relating to the coming term or next academic year can all shape the discussion. During our most recent (March) meeting we were given much food for thought in the area of Learning Support, and of Homework, and also listened to strong parental feelings with regard to the recently rejuvenated idea of an English baccalaureat. Which subjects are to be taught, and how much time they are given, together with the subtle or not so subtle expressions of their perceived importance, whether as exam subjects or not, are perennial themes for parents and educators, and Brockwood is no exception in this. Sharing our encrustation-prone perceptions, and recognising the need to polish and revise them, left us feeling glad for a morning well spent.
By Adrian Sydenham, Co-Principal.
Z-Day is the yearly awareness-raising event of the issues discussed in the Zeitgeist movie series (www.zeitgeistmovie.com). It takes place all over the world. This year Peter Joseph, founder of the Zeitgeist Movement and filmmaker of “Zeitgeist: The Movie”, the most watched documentary in the internet’s history (over 200 million views), decided to join the event in London and so did some Brockwood Students and Mature Students. It all happened at the Friends House and over 1000 people came.
Continue reading ‘Brockwood at Zeitgeist-Day in London – March 13th, 2011′
